


Unsanitary in Seattle

by orangefriday



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Fluff, Just all fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27973861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orangefriday/pseuds/orangefriday
Summary: Levi takes Nico on a date around Downtown Seattle.
Relationships: Nico Kim & Levi Schmitt, Nico Kim/Levi Schmitt
Comments: 13
Kudos: 58





	Unsanitary in Seattle

**Author's Note:**

> for the [Schmico Advent Calendar 2020](https://schmicoadventcalendar.tumblr.com/). Hope you guys brush your teeth because this is so sweet that I almost needed dentures writing this.

“Where are people getting all these flowers from?”

Levi’s looking at Nico like he’s grown a fifth head. It’s a rare December afternoon off from the hospital for the both of them. The sun is strong and the air is freezing. But it’s not raining for once and they’re bundled up. Plus, Nico’s hand is warm in his.

“What?” Nico asks, looking down at Levi with wide eyes, feigning offence. He looks way too painfully oblivious for Levi. They pass by yet another person holding a colourful bouquet. “Is there a special event today or something?”

Levi can’t believe his boyfriend. Nico’s been living in Seattle for _at least_ six months.

“Have you ever been to Pike Market before?”

Nico shakes his head and nods towards the direction of the waterfront. “That’s the market down there, right?”

“Oh my god,” Levi says and playfully bumps into Nico’s side, making the other almost lose his footing, but Levi tugs him back to him in the midst of laughter. “When you said you wanted to go downtown, I thought you wanted to go shopping and get coffee. Now we have to be tourists today.”

Nico laughs and leans in. His voice is suddenly too soft and too close to Levi’s cold bitten ears. “We _have_ to, huh?”

“Yes!” Levi practically squeaks much to his embarrassment and feels a bloom in his chest that crawls up the back of his neck and straight to his face. Sometimes he can’t believe he’s dating someone like Nico. Someone _that_ hot that just a simple whispered sentence makes Levi feel a million things he never thought he could feel for another person.

“Okay,” Nico says, a knowing smile on his face. _Jerk._ “Be my tour guide?”

Levi wants to push Nico away and kiss him senseless all at the same time. But instead, he asks, “Do you have any gum?”

The market is buzzing as usual with people and cars weaving around one another. Levi’s heart always does a little jump when he nears the bottom of the hill and can look up at the large sign above Pike Place that reads PUBLIC MARKET in rustic red.

Nico’s hand is still firmly in his as he snaps a few selfies of them under the sign.

They hit up Beecher’s first and eat too expensive mac and cheese on the sidewalk(“Worth the thirteen bucks, yeah?” Levi says and Nico just shrugs, not very convinced. He says, “I think you make it better” and Levi’s disappointment is instantly thwarted away and replaced by a smile that probably looks ridiculously silly to any passerby.) They watch as the employees at Yokoyama fling fish over everyone’s heads. (“Has any one been hit in the head by one?” Nico asks, in awe. Levi practically has to drag Nico away from the spectacle but answers him, “I don’t know, but it would be a cool way to go.”) And they brave the crowds as they walk through the market, looking at things they’ll never buy like lavender stuffed pillows, spicy sriracha jams, chocolate pastas, and hand crafted plates and light switches.

Nico learns where everyone’s getting flowers from and Levi revels in the way Nico’s face takes in all of it. There are stretches and stretches of vendors selling a dozen different types of bouquets. All beautiful and easily affordable.

“My eomma would love this,” His mom, Nico tells Levi. “She used to go to flower arrangement classes. But then again, she’ll probably tell me not to waste my money on these since she probably can do it better.”

Levi looks at Nico fondly, wanting badly to tuck away the hair that’s fallen out of place on Nico’s forehead and trace the curve of his perfect lips. Instead, Levi takes a deep breath and wipes his hands on the front of his pants in a pinch of nervousness. He scans the array of bouquets before them and notices a particularly interesting dark and light blue arrangement. It reminds him of their scrubs back at work.

“This one’s blue,” Levi points out and Nico’s mouth drops in awe. Levi’s never seen anyone be so intrigued over flowers in his life. The lady behind the stand tells them that’s a very popular choice and that Nico’s girlfriend would love it and asks if Nico is Korean all in one breath.

Levi looks away and pretends to find one of the dried bouquets very interesting as the two converse in Korean. He sees Nico hand over a few bills and thanks the lady who’s laughing, charmed by Nico, of course. She bows a few times and takes the blue flowered bouquet to wrap it in paper.

He tries not to pay attention to the uneasy feeling that tears at his throat. It’s stupid, he thinks, to be jealous over a girlfriend that doesn’t even exist.

The lady returns, smiling ear to ear and surprisingly hands the bouquet to Levi.

“For you,” she says and laughs, almost shyly, as Levi takes the bouquet with some hesitation. He looks over at Nico, stunned.

“For my girlfriend,” Nico says and winks.

If Levi wasn’t absolutely head over heels about Nico, he probably would’ve punched him. But all he does is hug the bouquet close to his chest and accept the kiss that Nico presses against his cheek.

When Nico turns the corner and sees exactly what Levi means by _The Gum Wall_ , the first thing he says is, “This is very unsanitary.”

It’s a bricked alleyway just below the market covered in chewed gum. People are excitedly taking selfies and looking at the random notes and photos and all the creative ways others have stuck their gum on the walls. 

“Yeah, okay, grandpa, start chewing.” Levi pops a piece of gum in his mouth and hands Nico his own piece. “Maybe we should’ve gotten bubble gum so we could make it stringy like the ones on the pipe.”

Nico’s still holding his gum in his fingers and looking around the alleyway like everything is infected. “That’s disgusting.”

He has to stop himself from rolling his eyes. “C’mon, let me take a picture of you.”

He positions Nico right below a window who stands under it begrudgingly with his hands in his pockets. He even makes Nico hold the bouquet, jokingly posing him like they’re taking graduation photos. A group of people walk in between them just as Levi shouts out at Nico to, “Smile, Kim, or I’m going to spit my gum at you!”

They give Levi a weird look but it makes Nico laugh so he doesn’t care. He loves Nico’s smile and the way his teeth poke out. It’s cute.

“I’m glad I could document your first day in Seattle,” Levi jokes as he swipes through the fifteen photos he took of Nico just now. His whole camera roll is full of Nico from today: Nico peering into the "Original Starbucks", the first one established in America. Nico leaning against the railing with the The Great Wheel behind him. And more Nico with his stupid, pretty face that makes all the flowers they've seen look bland and ordinary in comparison. Somehow, he looks good in all of them, even when his eyes are closed. But Levi likes the last one the most.

“Take a picture of us too,” Nico says and wraps an arm around Levi’s shoulders. He happily obliges. It’s not everyday they get a chance to take so many photos together that aren’t of them outside of Grey Sloan, tired with bags under their eyes after a long shift.

He holds out his phone and gives it his best goofy smile, but the moment he snaps a photo, Nico kisses him.

It takes him by surprise but it's Nico’s _kissing him_ , deep and hungry. His hands move to Levi’s waist, holding him steady and it’s a good thing because Levi feels like the world is turning upside down and sideways. He thinks he’s dropped the bouquet on the floor as he feels his face burn and body almost melt from the heat of Nico’s kiss. Levi opens his mouth, wanting more of Nico, and Nico happily invites himself in.

When they part, Levi’s head is _swimming._ He watches Nico smile cheekily as he pulls out _Levi_ ’ _s_ gum from out his own mouth. And Levi can’t even begin to digest just how the hell Nico managed to do _that_ because the kiss is still doing _things_ to his head. He looks on in a daze as his boyfriend sticks their shared piece of gum on the wall and moulds it into a shape resembling a tiny heart. It’s ugly but it’s _their_ gum on the wall.

And all Levi has the strength to say, in between breaths, is, “That wasn’t very sanitary at all.”

*

It’s almost six o’clock as they ride the ferris wheel, feet sore and cheeks flushed from the cold. The inside of the glass cabin is warm and Nico’s sitting beside him with his head on Levi’s shoulder. The sun bathes the ocean in pink golden light as it begins to set. It’s a breathtaking view and Levi’s never felt happier than he is feeling at this very moment.

“You’re so cheesy. Anyone tell you that?” Levi says quietly, to break the silence because he doesn’t do well with them at all.

“But you like it,” Nico answers, almost whining and Levi can’t believe how big of a baby Nico is being right now. He’s about to protest, but then Nico buries his face in his neck and places a soft kiss there.

And Levi shuts up altogether even though he feels like screaming and yelling about everything that’s Nico’s done all day. He thinks about himself a year ago. About how he never thought he’d be like this. How he thought he was going to be the same clumsy and awkward intern branded as Glasses for the rest of his life. Never would he have thought he’d be here, on one of the most cavity-inducing dates he’s ever been on that he thought only ever existed in movies and comic books. Receiving flowers, watching sunsets, and holding hands, with a guy. With Nico. And it’s right then that Levi thinks he’s falling deeper and deeper in love with him.

So he smiles for Nico, big and wide and happy. “I guess I do.”


End file.
